On top of releasing "Yeezus," one of the year's best and bravest albums, he dropped plans to eclipse Wal-Mart, declared war on disrespectful late night show hosts, and became a father to North West, his daughter with fiancé Kim Kardashian.

So that's why we're not really into sending him up or tearing him down.

Kanye West has cultivated a career defined by his intelligence, outspokenness, and ridiculously high standards he's set for himself. True, those have led to some questionable decision-making, egotistical exclamations and foolish outbursts. But without those moments, he wouldn't be the Kanye we know and, yes, love.

So with that in mind, here are our favourite Kanye West moments, beginning with the one that even Obama maligned him for.

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The world didn't know rage until Kanye West grabbed the microphone away from tiny baby Tayor Swift and, in his inimitable way, said that while he was happy for her achievements, Beyoncé really deserved the award for Best Video. Even Obama called him a jackass afterward, but here's the thing: earlier this year, Kanye spoke to Ryan Seacrest about the incident, admitting that he "would not want some crazy drunk rock star cutting my daughter off." But he also argued that his daughter "would 100 per cent also be like, 'Yes, Beyoncé did have the best video.'" Which, well, she did.
So while Kanye’s tactics may not have been wise, he at least cut through the bullshit of industry falsities and spoke honestly about how he felt. That honesty is, of course, being the foundation of why we love Kanye.

One January eve, Kanye West took to Twitter and passionately announced the launch of "Donda," the company he named after his late mother. Promising to "pick up where Steve Jobs left off," West tweeted about everything from clothing to his work on an upcoming Jetsons movie, to the American school system, all as part of his trademark stream of consciousness.
And while this "trillion-dollar start-up" has yet to crystallize (as far as we can see), West again succeeded in not only speaking his mind, but believing in himself enough to make grandiose promises. In an era of cynicism and being too cool, Kanye West is the opposite of both. Sure, he may be passionate about himself and his projects, but do any of us believe in ourselves enough to tweet for hours about what we planned on achieving? Probably not -- most of us are worried about tweeting our opinions about movies.

We'll keep this simple: Kanye West has been quoted, fav'd, and RT'd to high heavens, thanks to gems like "I hate khaki cargo shorts" and "feelings are the only facts." But while his feed appears uncensored as he's Tweeting, it's actually the alternate: despite his legacy of hours-long Twitter rants, only 49 tweets actually remain undeleted, proving West is obviously hyper-aware of cultivating his image – which is more than most Twitter users can say. That, or Kanye isn't interested in preserving the past. And why would he be? Unlike the rest of us, he doesn't need Favstar.

Watch footage of post-Katrina New Orleans and try not to be affected by thousands of citizens trapped, hungry and hurt weeks after it happened. So when Kanye joined Mike Myers for a telethon to raise money, he was frustrated. Obviously. So much so that he claimed George Bush didn't care about black people – and frankly, according to anyone watching the lack of help African-American communities were receiving, he didn't seem too far off. (At least somebody said something.) Which is why, four years later, this came up again...

Hot on the heels of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," Matt Lauer sat the rapper down to talk about the '06 telethon -- AKA what the President said was "the worst moment of his presidency." That's when Lauer began shaming Kanye, asking him to watch Bush's face while discussing the event, before going on to play a clip of the 2009 VMAs as Kanye was speaking. Understandably, this didn't fly. So instead of going along with the media game, Kanye called Lauer out – politely, but enough that the interview became infamous, and Matt Lauer looked a fool. And who can blame West? In the words of the Internet, no one Matt should have all that Lauer.

Fans of West knew he was over the top before releasing his 2010 "Dark Twisted" masterpiece, but critics were quick to criticize his antics over his musical contributions up until then. Fortunately, they began changing their tune after West's 2010 and 2011 performances of "Runaway" – a song he performed in front of a minimalist backdrop, and alongside several ballerinas. A little much? Obviously. But Kanye West was determined to establish himself as an artist, not just a rapper – and it worked. Nobody else is on his level: Eminem rapped wearing a parka on SNL this year, for heaven's sake while Kanye delievered another pair of searing multimedia performances with "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves."

Kanye has never shied away from discussing him or plans for world domination (see: most things he's said, ever), so why would his interview with Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe be any different? In this case, he talked about being the man behind leather jogging pants, as well as his plans to create a line – and to become – bigger than Wal-Mart. And again, why should that be a bad thing? If you plan on birthing an empire, why not be open about it. Maybe if Kanye had never released a good album before, or hadn't consistently lived up to his hype for a decade, this would be problematic. Instead, he listed his goals – which shouldn't have been a punchline.

Oh, but his BBC interview did become a punchline. Which is why in true late-night style, Jimmy Kimmel aired a sketch portraying the interview line-by-line, with two kids playing West and Lowe. This inspired another Kanye Twitter rant that included the hashtags, #NODISRESPECTTOBENAFFLECK #ALLDISRESPECTTOJIMMYKIMMEL.
But instead of starting a war, 'Ye accepted Kimmel's request to appear on the program, where Kimmel apologized, and Kanye explained why he was upset. He then went on to address everything from classicism to his own flare for honesty. Most outlets pegged it as an "epic rant," but in reality, West was really addressing real issues relevant to his career and his reputation. Is he not going to defend himself? And if it wasn't Kanye speaking, wouldn't his "rant" be heralded as some sort of empowerment speech?

Listen, nobody loves Kanye and Kim like Kanye and Kim do, so at some point, they had to use one of Kanye's videos as an e-card to themselves. It got laughed at, and brilliantly spoofed by Seth Rogan and James Franco, but regardless of its exhibitionist and narcissistic nature it was entertaining – and isn't that what music videos are supposed to be? Early music videos were ridiculous, funny, and self-deprecating. Now we've got glorified short films with no real meaning. At least the meaning here was, "Because we fucking can."

Kanye enlisted a white Jesus to appear for a performance of "Jesus Walks" earlier this year. Blasphemy to some (like, well, anybody religious), but in Kanye's defense, he carried on a conversation with the historical figure, and at no point demeaned or disrespected him. Act-ing! Or at the very least, sketch comedy. (Kind of.)

"For me, I'm a creative genius, and there's no other way to word it. I know you're not supposed to say that about yourself, and I say things the wrong way a lot of times. But my intention is always positive."

"Creatives have got beat up my entire life. And there's moments where I stood up to drug dealers in Chicago and said, ‘You can't have my publishing. Come and kill me. Do whatever you're gonna do, but you're not gonna bully me. You're not gonna stop me, because my mother told me to believe in myself.’"

“There’s no black guy at the end of the runway in Paris in all honesty [Jimmy Kimmel: "What about the Steve Harvey Collection?"] No! There’s no Steve Harvey Collection. No extra buttons on jackets or anything like that.”

"If you guys look at the Zane interview, it's really something extremely fearless for someone in my position to do, because most people just bow down to TV...I could care less about any of these cameras, in all honesty. All I care about is my family."

“It’s not about racism anymore, it’s classism. Like Paula Deen, she was old school with it. They like, 'we don’t do it like that anymore, that’s racist. We classist now.' Classism is when they try to say, ‘You’re a rapper…your girl is on a reality show so you’re not up here with us. We’re old money.’ It’s snobbery and I’m not into all that snobbery, seriously. All we want to do is to make awesome stuff. All we want is a real shot.”

"Don't ask me a question about something you saw in the tabloids. Don't try to antagonize me. Because you know what? It's not safe for you in the zoo. Never think that I'm not from Chicago for one second and think you can walk up and disrespect me and my family constantly."

“Media does everything they can to break artists’ spirits and I do everything to break media.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m a rap artist, I’m more of a messenger than a rapper, so when you say rap beef it kind of undermines it.”

“I refuse to follow the rules that society has set up and the way that they control people with low self-esteem, with improper information, with branding, with marketing. I refuse to follow those rules. It’s about truth. It’s about information. It’s about awesomeness. And the only luxury is time, time that you spend with your family. That’s the only luxury, so the concept of luxury is improper to me.”

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 03: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend Givenchy Fall/Winter 2013 Ready-to-Wear show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2013 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 06: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the Costume Institute Gala for the 'PUNK: Chaos to Couture' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 06: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian attend the Costume Institute Gala for the 'PUNK: Chaos to Couture' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 06: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the Costume Institute Gala for the 'PUNK: Chaos to Couture' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 06: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian attend the Costume Institute Gala for the 'PUNK: Chaos to Couture' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

In this Monday, May 7, 2012 photo, Kanye West arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala benefit, celebrating Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, in New York. West closed the three-day Governors Ball on New Yorks Randalls Island with a set that featured his familiar hits as well as a batch of new, darker tracks from his upcoming album. West kicked off his set Sunday night, June 9, 2013, with the song Black Skinhead, with flashing visuals in the background, including the words not for sale. He later performed New Slaves. Both tracks will appear on Yeezus, his sixth album out June 18. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2012 file photo Singer Kanye West and girlfriend Kim Kardashian attend Gabrielle's Angel Foundation 2012 Angel Ball cancer research benefit at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Kanye West can pass down that leather skirt to his future child: He and Kim Kardashian are expecting a daughter. The big reveal of the baby's sex came Sunday night, June 2, 2013 on Kardashian's E! reality show, "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit celebrating "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" on Monday, May 6, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Kim Kardashian, left, and Kanye West attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit celebrating "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" on Monday, May 6, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit celebrating "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" on Monday, May 6, 2013, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 03: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend Givenchy Fall/Winter 2013 Ready-to-Wear show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2013 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 03: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend Givenchy Fall/Winter 2013 Ready-to-Wear show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2013 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 03: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend Givenchy Fall/Winter 2013 Ready-to-Wear show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2013 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 03: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend Givenchy Fall/Winter 2013 Ready-to-Wear show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2013 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 03: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend Givenchy Fall/Winter 2013 Ready-to-Wear show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 3, 2013 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 24: Kayne West performs during the Samsung Galaxy Notes II launch at Skylight at Moynihan Station, on October 24, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by 13thWitness/Getty Images for Samsung)

MIAMI BEACH, FL - DECEMBER 06: Kourtney Kardashian and Kanye West attend the celebration of Dom Perignon Luminous Rose at Wall at W Hotel on December 6, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Dom Perignon)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 23: Kanye West attends the Maison Martin Margiela with H&M global launch event at 5 Beekman on October 23, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for H&M)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 23: Kanye West attends the Maison Martin Margiela with H&M global launch event at 5 Beekman on October 23, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for H&M)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 22: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian attend the Angel Ball 2012 at Cirpiani Wall Street on October 22, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Mack/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 22: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian attend the Angel Ball 2012 at Cirpiani Wall Street on October 22, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Mack/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 22: Kanye West attends the Angel Ball 2012 at Cipriani Wall Street on October 22, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Mack/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 28: Kanye West arrives at the Christian Dior Spring / Summer 2013 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on September 28, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 28: Kanye West arrives at the Christian Dior Spring / Summer 2013 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on September 28, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2011 file photo, Kanye West performs during the Victoria's Secret fashion show in New York. With 17 nominations, Kanye West is the leader at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, which will tape on Sept. 29, 2012 in Atlanta. Hes nominated for lyricist of the year, best hip-hop video and best live performer, among others. The show will air on BET on Oct. 9. (AP Photo/Brad Barket, File)

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 12: Rapper Kanye West and TV Personality Kim Kardashian and attend Louise Goldin Spring 2013 at Milk Studios on September 12, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 12: TV Personality Kim Kardashian and Rapper Kanye West attend Louise Goldin Spring 2013 at Milk Studios on September 12, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 12: Television perosnality Kim Kardashian (L) and vocalist Kanye West attend the Marchesa spring 2013 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal on September 12, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 12: Television perosnality Kim Kardashian (L) and vocalist Kanye West attend the Marchesa spring 2013 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal on September 12, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 04: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West leave the Valentino Haute-Couture Show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2012/2013 at Hotel Salomon de Rothschild on July 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 04: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the Valentino Haute-Couture show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2012/13 at Hotel Salomon de Rothschild on July 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 04: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West leave the Valentino Haute-Couture Show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2012/2013 at Hotel Salomon de Rothschild on July 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 04: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the Valentino Haute-Couture show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2012/13 at Hotel Salomon de Rothschild on July 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 04: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the Valentino Haute-Couture show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2012/13 at Hotel Salomon de Rothschild on July 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 04: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West leave the Valentino Haute-Couture Show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2012/2013 at Hotel Salomon de Rothschild on July 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images)